I LOVE the expression ‘living above the shop’ (quite different, note, from ‘all over the shop’). It conjures up all kinds of make do and mend small business frugality.
Quite different from my desire to camp out in Bistrovin, the new upstairs wine bar of Spirited Wines on Deansgate.
When Manchester’s best kept secret takes off I’ll be struggling to bag the sofa for even an hour or two, let alone to make the place my home from home.
The World of Leather-style burgundy (sic) sofa would be my homely nest, the £4 corkage on any bottle from the shop below my way to keep daily expenses down; for any wines over £60 the £4 fee is waived, so perfect for special occasions when I invite friends over to share Bistrovin’s exquisite charcuterie and cheese platters.
I would hope these friends would embrace my new commitment to bus spotting. There is no better vantage point than this first floor above Deansgate, where Witch Way expresses and route one and two shuttle services compete for my attention, losing out to the (mostly) French wines on offer.
My Spirited Wines host Johnny is from near Paris, his sidekick Anna-Claire from Normandy. Kiwi and Greek wine feature (plus English cheeses), but the tendency is definitely Gallic.
Of course, all this is my fantasy. When Manchester’s best kept secret takes off I’ll be struggling to bag the sofa for even an hour or two, let alone to make the place my home from home. Still I hope that happens. With the softest of soft launches the project is under-promoted (this may soon change), but it deserves to succeed. For the quality of the wines and the provenance of the cold meats and fromage.
To accompany the wines (20 of them by the glass if the corkage deal doesn’t appeal), Bistrovin offer cold platters at three items for £12, five for £19 and seven for £26. You choose from what’s come in, the kind of saucisson serendipity that appeals to me.
I had been stood up, so settled for the £19 offer, which was more than enough for solo me. Accompanied by capers, gherkins, tapenade and breads, it featured pepper salami, an odd salami with nuts, a gorgeous near raw salami called Fuseau (because the whole one is rocket shaped), a Brie de Meaux quite different from the usual over-chalky or stinky ripe examples we get and one of my favourite French cheeses, Morbier from the Franche Comte. The latter had the distinctive thin black layer cutting though its almost elastic middle and earthy, tangy substance that married well with all three wines I tasted.
These were by the glass because I was on my own. Sharing a bottle or taking advantage of the shop corkage is the better bet. My wines were a Morgon Les Charmes Beaujolais (£3.80), all direct raspberry fruit, a dry ‘onion skin’ typically Provencal rose called Moment ‘M’ de Minuty (£4.20) and, best of all, a Chablis Grand Cru ‘Les Vaillons’ (£6.40) with minerality and proper upfront fruit, too.
I sipped appreciatively while contemplating from my personal leather sofa the ultimate destination of the Arriva eco bus stopping outside La Tasca.
Bistrovin 59 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 2BB. 0161 834 7328, @BVofDeansgate
